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Overview

Hosts' hopes in Loisel's hands

Frenchwoman Elisabeth Loisel became the new coach of the
China PR women's team on Sunday as she emerged the winner from
an esteemed shortlist which included the likes of former USA coach
April Heinrichs and Brazilian Jorge Barcellos.

It was on Tuesday that the China Football Association (CFA)
parted company with Marika Domanski-Lyfors' and it took only
five days for the former France boss to be announced as the
Swede's successor. By accepting the job, Loisel - the sixth
head coach Steel Roses have had since their disappointing USA 2003
campaign - has also taken on arguably the toughest test of her
coaching career with an assault on the Women's Olympic Football
Tournament Beijing 2008 lying ahead.

"We are a young team but the players are not short of
talent," she said to the local media in her first press
conference as China coach on Sunday. "There are only three
medals for grabs at the Women's Olympic Football Tournament and
the competition will predictably be tough. We will do our best to
achieve a good result."

Footballing pedigreeAt the age of 44, Loisel boasts an impressive coaching CV. In
her ten-year tenure in the France hot-seat, her team made
tremendous progress, shown by a rise from 16th to fifth in the FIFA
Women's World Ranking.

"My footballing career dates back to 28 years ago,"
she explained. "I played football for nine years before
assuming an assistant coaching role which lasted for eleven years.
My coaching experience culminated with the French national team
when I was the head coach from 1997 to 2007."

Loisel's technique approach could be another reason that
helped her win the hearts of her Chinese paymasters as she is
planning to build the Steel Roses into a technically strong team,
which fits CFA's criteria for the position. "I would go
for the Brazilian football as they have excessively outstanding
technique," she explained. "Who doesn't favour Marta?
I hope there will be a Chinese Marta coming through soon in my
tenure."

Daunting tasksLoisel will begin her Chinese adventure with a training camp
starting at the end of the month at Wuhan, the same city in which
her predecessor Domanski-Lyfors took over nearly seven months ago.
With expectations already high and less than 300 days until the
Beijing Olympics kick off, the pressure is on the new coach to lead
China, who are currently ranked 13th in the world, to the top three
at the global event.

On home soil, China failed to reach the last four at the recent
FIFA Women's World Cup but Loisel is optimistic about the
future. "I watched the team play during the Women's World
Cup as one of the FIFA Technical Study Group member," she
said. "The players are technically good and several of them
impressed me. From this point of view I think I can employ nearly
the same approach to the Chinese team as I did with
France."